Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati is a distinguished, traditional teacher of Vedanta. His depth
of understanding and nuanced appreciation of Western culture makes him that rare teacher
who can communicate the vision of non-duality to modern listeners. He is able to make one
see, with immediacy, the truth of oneself as the whole.

Swami Dayananda has been teaching Vedanta in India for more than four decades, and
around the world since 1976. In his public talks abroad, Swamiji has spoken at many of the
most prestigious American universities, and has addressed international conventions,
UNESCO and the United Nations, where he participated in the Millennium Peace Summit. A
teacher of teachers, Swami Dayananda designed and taught six resident in-depth Vedanta
courses, each spanning 30 to 36 months.

Four were conducted in India, and two in the United States. Each course graduated about 60
qualified acharyas, teachers, who are now teaching around the world. More than one hundred
are now swamis and are highly respected as scholars and teachers throughout India and
abroad. Under Swami Dayananda's guidance, numerous centers for Vedic teaching have been
founded around the world. The two main centers in India are the Arsha Vidya Ashram in
Rishikesh and the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in Coimbatore. In the U.S., the main center is the
Arsha Vidya Gurukulam at Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. At present there are at least sixty
centers in India and abroad that carry on the same tradition of Vedantic teaching.

In addition to teaching, Swami Dayananda has initiated and supported various philanthropic
efforts. The All India Movement (AIM) for Seva, inaugurated in November, 2000, brings
medical, educational, nutritional and infrastructure assistance to villagers in the remote areas
of India. This movement enjoys the blessing of all traditional Hindu spiritual leaders who have
united as a single body, the Acarya Sabha, through the coordinating efforts of Swami
Dayananda. In November 2001, Swami Dayananda convened the first World Congress for the
Preservation of Religious Diversity in Delhi, inaugurated by the Dalai Lama and the then
Prime Minister Mr.A.B.Vajpayee. An important outcome of the Congress is the formation of a
Global Commission for the Preservation of Religious Diversity, spearheaded by Swami
Dayananda. The Commission had its inaugural meeting in Bangkok in June, 2002. Swami
Dayananda was also active in forming and participating in the Women's Global Peace
Initiative, which convened at the United Nations in Geneva in October 2002.

Swamiji's genius does not restrict him to teaching Vedanta, but leads him into spheres that
impact humanity as a whole. It is precisely his humaneness, a respect for all cultures, that
makes him declare that all civilisations, all cultural forms, need to be preserved, nurtured and
appreciated. The mosaic of human civilisation enriches life as a manifestation of the universal
spirit. His anguish at the loss of great civilisations of the past such as the Egyptian, Greek,
Aztec and others, makes him intensely aware of the need to preserve and nurture the diversity
of human culture. He is more certain than ever before, that there is no place in the scheme of
things for aggression in religion/culture. All cultural forms are equally valid and need to be
respected, which led him to declare in July 1999 that religious/cultural conversion, in any
form, is violence. An epochal statement, it was to echo in universities and among other
spiritual thinkers and leaders.